


escaped into cages

by sleeperservice



Category: Original Work
Genre: Cat/Human Hybrids, Exile, M/M, Slavery
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-14
Updated: 2018-09-14
Packaged: 2019-07-12 03:51:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 634
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15987029
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sleeperservice/pseuds/sleeperservice
Summary: An apprentice archivist prince and his catperson master flee to the court of an ally, but face a hard exile that they can only get through with the comfort of each other.





	escaped into cages

**Author's Note:**

  * For [shadow_lover](https://archiveofourown.org/users/shadow_lover/gifts).



Lisode hadn't ever wished to see his master like this. It wasn't the way he was dressed that was the problem; it was his master's humiliation as he sat at Lisode's feet. Sefin was clad only in a filmy loincloth and a black collar set with emeralds. His eyes looked pleased but his ears were flat against his head and his fluffy tail was down; his pale skin flushed pink and clashed badly with his greying red hair. Sefin had been forty years free, from child to man, but to survive here in the court of King Chamori he must play the role of Lisode's pampered pet.

Lisode hadn't meant to be the last of his father's sons left alive either; his temperament was far more suited for the apprentice archivist he had been instead of a crown prince in exile. The youngest of seven should never have been the last one standing.

"Your pet looks distressed," the king said.

"He does not take well to being visited by others," Lisode replied, and petted Sefin on the head, scratching behind his ears. "At home he was first my father's pet, and then mine, but shared with no one. He was my father's favorite treasure and I was honored to have him gifted to me."

"A true house cat, indeed. I can tell how you cared for him. His coat shines, and he has been well-fed."

Lisode nodded. "Perhaps a bit too much so in the past." His master rarely stirred from the archives back home but the journey to Cormiria-by-the-Sea had been long and arduous; he had lost a bit of weight along the way.

"Well, you are safe here for now, so far from the war at home. You and your pet. May you both feel comfortable enough to get back to yourselves." The king stood up and took his leave.

  


"Comfortable, he says? Never again in my life, I think," Sefin said softly when they were finally alone that night, in Lisode's bed, with servants nowhere in earshot.

"I hadn't realized how the constructs were treated until just today," Lisode said. "Why you insisted that you wear only that in public. And the collar, it's inhumane!"

"I am the only construct you know, Lisode. The only one you have ever known. And the cat-constructs in particular were created for this. Pleasure pets. I will never remove that collar again and neither will you. It means you _own_ me, Lisode, and that no one else can claim me. You are an honorable man, as your father has raised you, and as I have trained you from youth to man. I would wish to belong to no one else; because perhaps someday you will go home, as prince or king, and I will return to the archives. But now, I warm your bed, and give you the comforts that I will allow."

Sefin's body was warm against him; his ears were perked up, and Lisode could see the movements of his tail under the covers. He had admired his master for so long and had thought the older man was handsome even before he had discovered the man was something else other than an ordinary human. The comforts Lisode would have wished to take from him as a free man were quite different than the ones that he would ask of an owned pet.

"What will you allow?" Lisode finally asked.

"Draw me close; we constructs crave touch, and it has been so long since I have allowed myself any."

Lisode wrapped his arms around him; he began to purr as Lisode wept into his hair, staining the fur of his ears with the hot salt of his tears. Their home would need to be with each other, as long as it could last.

**Author's Note:**

> The sexy librarian catboy prompt really got me thinking! And, yes, this is more of a catman than a catboy; I hope it still meets the recipient's approval.


End file.
